Author Study

Daniel Pinkwater

So far we have read 8 picture books and 2 chapter books by Daniel Manus Pinkwater, and have started reading a biography of his life by Alice B. McGinty.

Thank you to Clementine for sharing her Pinkwater novel, Blue Moose and Return of Blue Moose.

As we read Daniel Pinkwater's stories, as well as stories by other authors, we have been looking at the structure of the stories, and their characters, settings, and "problems". In our discussions, we have been talking about how problems in stories make them interesting. For each story we read, we discuss the problem(s) the characters face and how the problem(s) get solved.

This month each child is working on writing their own books. At the beginning of the month, the children received a notebook (an "idea book") to write down plans for their stories. The first exercise was to think of a character, draw a picture of the character, and then write down at least 5 things about the character. The second assignment was to think about the setting for the story. The next step, is to think about what problem the character(s) encounter. By the end of the month, the children will dictate their story for me and I will print out the stories for them to illustrate, and their first book will be complete.

If you would like to learn more about Daniel Pinkwater, check out his web site:

http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/